Idaho Commission for Libraries

Lewis and Clark among the Indians by James Ronda (1984)

Ronda's book takes thinking about this expedition to another very important level: that of considering the voyage from a Native American point of view. Using the journals and drawing upon research and his extensive knowledge, Ronda makes the reader consider the significance of major encounters in terms of what could have been mutually understood, and what was probably misunderstood.

Soon after the expedition left Camp Dubois to ascend the Missouri, it met tribal people. Tribe after tribe lived along the way that they took up the river, so the captains had ample chance to relay their message to those people. That meant informing them of the change in government since the Louisiana Purchase, giving gifts, admonishing them not to fight traditional enemies, and demonstrating technologically superior power. Usually, this performance was followed by music and dancing, offered by both parties.

The experiences with native peoples varied from tribe to tribe, but generally the natives up the Missouri River and on the Pacific Ocean had experience with Europeans, whereas the Plateau people in what is now Idaho and eastern Oregon did not. Moreover, the friendly encounters with Arikara, Mandan, Shoshoni, Nez Perce, Walla Walla and others contrast sharply with those of the Teton Sioux and the Piegan Blackfeet. Yet with each tribe, Ronda informs readers about the possible gaps in giving and receiving messages and about the differences in goals and in understandings.

Also on this page: Discussion Questions | Web Sites

Biographical information about James Ronda

Born in 1943 in the eastern United States, Ronda has become a venerated scholar of the American West. He holds the H. G. Barnard Chair in Western American history at the University of Texas and is past president of the Western History Association. His extensive writings on exploration include Astoria and Empire (1990), Revealing America: Image and Imagination in the Exploration of North America (1996), Voyages of Discovery: Essays on the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1998), Jefferson's West: A Journey with Lewis and Clark (2000), and Finding the West: Explorations with Lewis and Clark (2001). In addition to teaching and writing, Ronda has become a speaker throughout the United States, a commentator on television documentaries, and a museum consultant.

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Discussion questions for Lewis and Clark among the Indians

1. Explain how Lewis and Clark's goals contrast with those of the Teton Sioux, the Mandan, the Shoshoni, and the Clatsop.
2. Contrast the lifestyles of the Missouri River tribes with those of the Plateau country of what is today Idaho and eastern Oregon, and with tribes of the Pacific coast.
3. On pages 81 and 82, Ronda states, "Lewis and Clark were anxious to impress on the minds of 'dutiful Indian children' that they had a new and powerful father in a distant place... The second goal was [that] American policy toward the Indians linked trade with sovereignty." Discuss how these goals played out among their encounters with indigenous people.
4. What role did sex play in the encounters of the Corps of Discovery with tribes?
5. How did Lewis and Clark prepare for the trip in terms of trade with Indians?
6. What happened on the Marias River? Was it inevitable?
   

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Web Sites

• http://www.lewisandclark200.org/index.php?cID=80
  This web page is a list of "Tribal Nations Whose Homelands Lewis and Clark Explored." Many tribes' names link to their own web sites, and a number of these include their own tribal histories of encounters with Lewis and Clark.

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